A Reader Asks If What Happened To The Austro-Hungarian Empire Will Happen To America

Warning

I am in the middle of reading a book, called A Mad Catastropheby Geoffrey Wawro, about the decline and collapse of Austria-Hungary. So far it is mostly about how Austria-Hungary’s military wasn’t up to snuff, but in there are mentions about politics in the Habsburg Empire–a bureaucratic nightmare.

A major point I’ve noted in the book is how the Austrian portion of the empire kept conceding political power to the Hungarian minority, which made up about 20% of the population.

According to the book, there was a separate Hungarian parliament or Senate equivalent that had to accept proposals from the Austrian portion of the government. The Hungarian political groups constantly stalled any government action unless it benefited the Hungarians, and would especially reject anything that benefited Austrian political, economic or militaristic power at the expense of Hungarians.